the vicious is dead

to me. Got out for a several hour night ride the other night, with the majority of it being over 12,000'. Out under the stars, messing around with my light set up. All for a little ride that is coming up pretty soon. Am I ready? Sure, I suppose. Quick tour mode is the plan for that, fast, not at all. Well, maybe slightly.

Headed to salida for the don ride on the 4th. Had been wanting to do this ride since I first moved to CO, but it never worked out. I shut down the clinic and headed that way on Sunday night. Woke up and rolled over with Joey, Kevin, John and Doug for the 4:20 meet up at don's house. Joey, Doug and John were fresh off the durango dirty century which Joey and Doug happened to win, so Badass. 50-60 other folks met up and we were rolling by 4:30.

60 deep rolling in the dark is pretty sweet. What roads we hit I dunno, but we meandered through this and that for a few hours, rarely on pvmt once out of town, to the top of the pass for the beginning of the monarch crest trail. Pretty chill pace, but the group still split apart leaving us with about 15 in our group.

Hit the crest trail and yeah, it was sweet. High country riding with minimal snow. A beautiful section of trail for sure. Hit some high speed double track where the flat monster attacked, double flatted and got spit off the tail end of the group. Since I didn't really know the route I took off and luckily passed a few riders and rolled into the regroup area at the top of silver creek. Dropped off the mountain just rolling along when, what happens, another flat. Fix it and roll on, only to have my tensioner break. Since I run a quick release, my wheel was all over the place. Disconnected the rear brake and rolled on. Did 9 miles on the rainbow trail with just a front brake and ginger pedal strokes to the lunch spot. Since there was still quite a bit of single track and descending left, I opted out and rolled back to town via pavement. So lame. Still got in around 8 hours of riding with good folks.

So everything on the vicious is clapped out and/or broken and I don't want to fix anything associated with it. We have ridden many spectacular miles together over the last 8 years, however, I do not believe I will ever take her for another pedal, ever. I thought I would make her back into a fixie, but that would mean I would have to ride fixed again, doubtful. So I believe a cross bike is gonna take her place fairly soon.









On a side note, the wolfie may be here next friday, the day before the Breck 100, but I am assuming she will actually show up the following Monday. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but the reality is I am probably going to have to use a borrowed bike for the race. If I would have known I may not have a bike, I definitely would not have signed up for it.

Spike fest in the am, borrowing spike's winter bike for the short loop 50-ish miles. Hopefully it rides well and I can keep it as a reserve for the 100.

I'm out.


GO RIDE!!!

Getting closer

to coming home!




GO RIDE!!!

The latest,

a master painter at work!


GO RIDE!!!

I have a map!

two days of riding in the high country means lots of hikes with your bike and lots of snow fields.



Got in a 5 hour ride Saturday with a 3000' climb right off the bat. Nice push to the top of mosquito pass, then back down followed by most of the trails right in town.

On Sunday, the plan was for a little exploration on the trails in breckenridge. Was to meet Jeff there and John, 1st ride together, was down. I've ridden here once, no one else had and John said " I have a map, let's get lost in e woods." The only area I know is out of the ice rink parking lot. So that's where we started, some nice town single track followed by a grunt up to the trailhead for baker's tank, then to the top of boreas pass. Figured we may as well ride down gold dust, or whatever it's called, and go from there. About 2/3 of the way down I flatted and John was like "let's just ride back to Leadville, I hate out and backs.".
So the plan was set. Rolled off the trail, through Como, through Fairplay and towards mosquito pass. The first 5 or so miles was a nice and rideable grade, then it got steep and snow covered. The last couple of miles was trudging through large snow fields, but it was absolutely amazing despite the tough effort.









Get to the top and nothing but rolling off the pass and into town.



Just another day in the high rockies.


GO RIDE!!!

Coming soon,

to the trails near you..................




1st pic of the painted frame. Keith Anderson hooked it up in the paint department. So many subtleties that you can't see in the pic. Another week of riding the clapped out old vicious and then this will be my machine.

On a side note got hooked up with an entry for the Breck 100 on July 16th. Thanks Jerry, for the awesome deal. Plan on representing the wagon in a strong fashion. Should be fun.



GO RIDE!!!

Ring the Peak 2

Got a text from the boy's in the springs about a rtp (ring the peak) outing. So headed there for a little spin. A 5:30 am departure with 6 other folks and the day was on. A nice pace with good friends, you know it's gonna be a good day with those ingredients. pedal for a bit, push your bike for a bit, flow through some sweet 1-track was the theme of the day. The weather was spot on, got a nice snow shower up high and got to ride some new to me trail. Too much fun. The stats from a previous ride there was something like 82 miles and 11,000' of climbing. Good day on the bicycle. took a pretty big digger around the half way point and still quite sore from it. Guess i was due for a good crash.




GO RIDE!!!

Groovin'

Pedal, coast, flat! The theme of my last ride. 7 or so flats makes for a great day. I call it interval training, hammer it until you have to stop to fix the tire. Always the front, tire's shot. So I finally threw some new rubber at the tired old vicious. we'll see how it rolls, knobbier than I like for the front but it should get me through another couple of weeks.

When my days get full and I get in my groove, the blogging slacks and yeah i am definitely getting in my groove. Some big rides are about to start falling into place and the high country riding season is getting close. Camping out half of every week and riding bikes is what keeps me rolling. Bunch of newness coming about and moving forward. peace.



GO RIDE!!!